TY - CHAP

T1 - Fundamentals of nanotechnology

AU - Kodanek, Torben

AU - Paradinas, Sara Sánchez

AU - Lübkemann, Franziska

AU - Dorfs, Dirk

AU - Bigall, Nadja C.

PY - 2017/10/25

Y1 - 2017/10/25

N2 - Nano-from the Greek word nannos meaning dwarf-originally is simply a prefix replacing the factor of 10-9 for SI units. However, in the last half of the twentieth century, this prefix has developed to become nearly a term for itself, now being frequently used when objects with nanometer-sized dimensions are meant. This is reasoned by the huge amount of novel materials and effects discovered on the nanometer scale (which is usually in the range of 0.2 to 100 nm), since objects of that size are close to the size of molecules, so that already molecular effects can come into play. While there are surely many valid definitions available nowadays for the terms nanotechnology and nanoscience, the ones from the UK Royal Society and Royal Academy of engineering of 2004 are widely recognized by many institutions, such as by the scientific committee on emerging and newly identified health 2risks (SCENIHR) of the European Commission. In these definitions, nanoscience is “the study of phenomena and manipulation of materials at atomic, molecular, and macromolecular scales, where properties differ significantly from those at a larger scale.” Instead, the term nanotechnology is defined as “the design, characterization, production and application of structures, devices and systems by controlling shape and size at the nanoscale,” and a nanoscaled object is considered to be one “having one or more dimensions of the order of 100 nm or less.” Feynman’s lecture “there is plenty of room at the bottom” is probably the most famous one about nanotechnology, and the last decades have proven that Feynman was absolutely right in that sense, since almost every day novel materials with exciting new properties are developed by scientists all over the world, and we are by far not yet at the end.

AB - Nano-from the Greek word nannos meaning dwarf-originally is simply a prefix replacing the factor of 10-9 for SI units. However, in the last half of the twentieth century, this prefix has developed to become nearly a term for itself, now being frequently used when objects with nanometer-sized dimensions are meant. This is reasoned by the huge amount of novel materials and effects discovered on the nanometer scale (which is usually in the range of 0.2 to 100 nm), since objects of that size are close to the size of molecules, so that already molecular effects can come into play. While there are surely many valid definitions available nowadays for the terms nanotechnology and nanoscience, the ones from the UK Royal Society and Royal Academy of engineering of 2004 are widely recognized by many institutions, such as by the scientific committee on emerging and newly identified health 2risks (SCENIHR) of the European Commission. In these definitions, nanoscience is “the study of phenomena and manipulation of materials at atomic, molecular, and macromolecular scales, where properties differ significantly from those at a larger scale.” Instead, the term nanotechnology is defined as “the design, characterization, production and application of structures, devices and systems by controlling shape and size at the nanoscale,” and a nanoscaled object is considered to be one “having one or more dimensions of the order of 100 nm or less.” Feynman’s lecture “there is plenty of room at the bottom” is probably the most famous one about nanotechnology, and the last decades have proven that Feynman was absolutely right in that sense, since almost every day novel materials with exciting new properties are developed by scientists all over the world, and we are by far not yet at the end.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85054205982&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1201/9781315196602

DO - 10.1201/9781315196602

M3 - Contribution to book/anthology

AN - SCOPUS:85054205982

SN - 9789814613699

SP - 1

EP - 44

BT - Biocatalysis and Nanotechnology

ER -